The town of Oreburgh was in an uproar. Attila and Hun had been found guilty of theft and were sent to prison, but nobody cared about that. They were all shocked by the note left behind. Nexus had returned from wherever he was hiding. Police were everywhere checking people's ID's over and over again, reviewing trainer rosters, even checking family history. They were not about to let Nexus out if their sight again. As you can imagine, this messed up our young heroes adventures. Krestner became a complete closet case for some apparent reason and the rest found it very hard to train with all the cops around.

"I can't take it anymore." Selena said as she walked into her team's hotel room. "We have a gym battle today and we've barely done any training. Where's Krestner?"

"He's somewhere in one of the big rooms." Kaitlyn said as she painted her toenails. The hotel in apology for the inconvenience of the police upgraded everybody's rooms and they had a room with a couple training room. Selena walked away through a door. Krestner was in the first room and was training harder than ever. Without looking away from what he was doing, he spoke to her.

"The cops out there?"

"No, and don't I get a "hi" first?"

"Little busy, right now. Flare, Flamethrower. Honey, Silver Wind. Ghost, Psychic! Triple Max Power Go!" The Silver Wind wrapped around the Flamethrower and Ghost caught the combo with Psychic and smashed it into a wall, creating a dazzling display of red lights. Selena opened her mouth to say something."Still busy Selena, but the other rooms are free for you to train." Krestner said very rudely. Selena stomped out of the room. Krestner didn't care. He needed to stay out of the public eye. He should have been thinking when he put that sign on Attila and Hun, but the anger was flowing through his veins. He needed to shake these thoughts before he completely shut himself off from society. After all he'd just brushed off his best friend. "Boulder, Head Smash!"

Several Hours Later...

Roark stood at the end of the gym. Krestner, Kaitlyn, Kyle, Tyler, Selena, Ricard, and Madison stood at the other end.

"Before we begin, I'd like to state that because of all the cops looking for Nexus, I'm being forced to add a special rule." Roark cops walked into the room. " These officers will be battling with us during this gym battle. So to earn your badge, you must beat all of us. Sorry for the inconvenience...yada yada yada. Let's get on with the battle." Krestner smiled on the outside to keep up with appearances but on the inside he was cursing is bad luck. He couldn't use Ghost in this battle now. Oh well he had other strategies. He was going for Roark and he wasn't letting anybody else in on it. That included Selena.

"Go, Flare!"

"Squirt!"

"Fortune!"

"Totodile!"

"Kicker!"

"Seed!"

"Bubble!" The seven pokémon came out. Krestner's Charmander, Selena's Wartortle, Kyle's Absol, Ricard's Totodile, Kaitlyn's Hitmonlee, Tyler's Bulbasaur and Madison's Piplup all stood ready to battle. Roark took out a Pokéball and threw it.

"Go Geodude! His little boulder with arms came out. "Geodude!" The cops released their pokémon too.

"Arcanine!"

"Stunky!" 3 Arcanine and 3 Stunky stood next to Roark's Geodude. The judge raised his flags.

"Let the match begin!" Krestner made the first move.

"Flare, Fire Spin on Geodude!" One of the Arcanines tried to jump in the way, only to be hit by a combined Water Gun from Squirt and Bubble. The Arcanine smashed into the wall and got knocked out.

"One Arcanine down!" the judge roared. Tyler decided it was his time to jump into the battle.

"Seed, Energy Ball!" His Bulbasaur launched the green sphere towards Geodude only to have it blocked by a Flamethrower. Tyler looked to see who blocked his attack and saw that it was Flare, who turned back towards Geodude and hit it with a Metal Claw. Geodude was down and out. Roark sent out his Onix.

"Onix clear the field with Earthquake!" The two Arcanines and the other Stunky jumped onto Onix and the ground began to shake." Fortune, who had been digging underground was affected the most. He flew out of his hole, badly injured. Seed was knocked out along with Bubble and a Stunky that wasn't fast enough. Totodile managed to stay on its feet while Flare was very badly injured. Kicker fainted also. Roark continued his onslaught. "Onix, Screech on Totodile and then follow up with Stealth Rock on Flare!" The cops tried to jump in too.

"Stunky, Sludge Bomb! Arcanine Flame Wheel!"

"Fortune, Water Pulse!"

"Totodile, Hydro Pump!" Selena let out her Plant Cloak Burmy, Kaitlyn, sent out her Sand Cloak Burmy, and Madison sent out her Pidgeot. Tyler began to smile.

"Flora, use Hidden Power!" Selena's Burmy unleashed the energy fainting Totodile and a Stunky. Roark's Onix still dominated the field.

"Sandy, Tackle!" Kaitlyn ordered her Burmy to attack Onix who barely felt the attack and knocked out the Burmy with Screech. Flare having taken a Stealth Rock and an Earthquake without fainting did something nobody expected. He began to evolve!

"Charmande...Charmeleon!" Flare roared out loud. " "Flare!" Krestner yelled. "Use Metal Claw!" Flare's claws began to glow as he ran towards Onix. The cops tried to jump in to stop him as Onix prepared an Earthquake. That's when Tyler unleashed his secret weapon.

"Go Fluster!" Tyler sent out his own Onix and it smacked away the opposing pokémon with its tail. Stealth Rock activated and hit Fluster, but she barely felt it at all. Flare jumped up and slashed Onix's face with the Metal Claw causing it to go down hard. Tyler finally had everything as he wanted it. His sister down two pokémon, Kyle's Fortune weakened, Roark's Onix down, Flare with little energy left, the cops almost KO'ed and Madison's Whirlwind occupied.

"Fluster, Flash Cannon!" Fluster gathered up intense energy then fired the beam, sweeping the room. The aftereffects:

"Flare-KO

Fortune-KO

Whirlwind-No longer able to fly

Onix-KO

All the cops-KO

Tyler had sufficiently taken down the competition. Kyle decided he'd might as well get back in the game.

"Go Kindle!" Kyle sent out his starter, Chimchar hoping that by teaming up on Roark he would get a badge. Ricard sent out his Mightyena, Krestner sent out Honey is Mothim, Kaitlyn sent out her Torchic by the name of Arson, Selena sent out her Wartortle, Squirt. Roark smiled. He'd never had a battle this hot since...ever.

"Go Rampardos!" All the pokémon, except Rampardos and Fluster were struck by Stealth Rock. Kyle and Kaitlyn were taken out by the Stealth Rock. Honey fainted from the attack too. Krestner sent out Boulder his Cranidos.

"Rampardos, start the slaughter! Focus Punch Mightyena!" "Rampard!" It ran straight for Mightyena and its blinding speed threw Ricard off as Rampardos finished what Stealth Rock started and fainted Mightyena.

'Boulder, Zen Headbutt!" The Cranidos began to run towards...Tyler?!" It smashed into Fluster and fainted her.

"What was that?" Tyler yelled but he was ignored.

"Squirt, Water Pulse!"

"Rampardos, Flamethrower!" The attacks collided in mid-air causing a stalemate. Until...

"Boulder, Flamethrower!" Boulder's Flamethrower connected with Roark's increasing it's power and fainting Selena's Squirt. Whirlwind hopped over to attack but was hit by the combined Flamethrower too. Madison walked off the field disappointed. Krestner then turned on Roark.

"Boulder, Ice Beam on Rampardos's feet!" Rampardos was frozen solid to the ground and couldn't move.

"Rampardos, Use Flamethrower to unfreeze yourself. But before Rampardos could do that Boulder attacked with Head Smash and fainted Rampardos.

"Match Over, The Winners are Madison and Kyle King, Tyler and Kaitlyn Montauge, Selena Krat and Krestner Stratos. You all win the Coal Badge!"

They each were presented with the badge and Roark congratulated them and they returned all their pokémon. The cops were all talking suspiciously in the corner.

Krestner, we need to leave. Now. Ghost popped into Krestner's head. Krestner nodded and quickly started walking towards the door. Baby Pom, who was sleeping on his head, wrapped his tail around Krestner's neck to hold on. Madison followed Krestner, her Coal Badge displayed for all to see on her headband. Selena grabbed Kaitlyn, who was trying to sneak off with Kyle and dragged her after them as they followed Krestner. Krestner was about to touch the door handle when...

"Hey you stop right there!" One of the cops began to walk towards them. Krestner made a split-second decision. He ran. Krestner broke out running out of the gym and out of town. Selena, Kaitlyn, and Madison were right behind him. The cops were caught off guard but soon were trying to keep up. They stopped chasing the group who was well out of Oreburgh and headed back towards the mines.

A little grander escape than what I would've thought you capable of, but good nonetheless. Ghost said as he effortlessly kept the pace with Krestner.

"Shut up Ghost."

"Sir, he is headed back towards Jubilife City."

"Good, I'll send the welcoming committee. Now get back to work Grunt!"

"It will be my pleasure."